One silver lining of 2020 was that it helped people become more open to practicing self-care. According to a recent survey, two-thirds of people agreed that the personal self-care routines they developed during the pandemic have become a permanent part of their daily lives. While that’s true of the general population, higher education leaders need to understand why self-care is important for college students and how to help them develop a self-care plan.

What is self-care?

Included in the World Health Organization’s definition of self-care is “the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider.” At its core, self-care is simply the practice of looking after your own well-being in ways that prevent poor physical and mental health. Everyone’s self-care needs are different and should be based on determinants specific to their life, such as hereditary health and environment, schedule, habits, interests, stress levels, and more.

Of course, if college students are eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep, they’re already practicing self-care. But sometimes these essential habits are not enough for the physical and mental well-being demands of student life. Given the compounding stress of politics, COVID-19 and its variants, war abroad, violence, and tragedies at home, it’s no wonder mental health is suffering in America — and rampantly among college students.

Why is self-care important for college students?

The ups and downs of life — college life in particular — can have a huge impact on the health and well-being of students. A self-care routine can equip students to better navigate the inevitable stressors of college life and beyond. Engaging in a self-care routine is clinically proven to reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression, reduce stress, increase happiness, and more. It can help students adapt to change, build strong relationships, and recover from setbacks. Respondents in a national survey cited the benefits of self-care as enhanced self-confidence (64%), increased productivity (67%), and higher levels of happiness (71%). And from a physical health perspective, self-care is clinically proven to reduce heart disease, stroke, and cancer, contributing to better overall well-being.

“College students are taught that the next four years [of college] are the ones to look forward to and will someday be the ones they wish to return to,” said Dr. Sharia Hays, Ed.D., Associate Dean at George Fox University. However, by encouraging students to view the college experience with rose-colored glasses, we are setting them up for failure. As students transition to college, prepare them for the struggles as much as for the joys.” To equip students, Hays lists four elements to include in a self-care plan: 

Six out of 10 college students live with mental health disorders. And although the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250-to-1 ratio of students to school counselors, the national average was 415-to-1 for the 2020-2021 academic year. Clearly, an imbalance exists that needs to be corrected. And, without a strategy for meeting student demands for care, the impact of long wait times for care is likely to be felt at college and university campuses across the country.

A study using eight years of data from more than 350,000 students at 400 college campuses found that the mental health of college students across the U.S. is on the decline. More than 60% of students surveyed during the 2020-2021 academic year met the criteria for one or more mental health problems – a nearly 50% increase from 2013. So as student-to-counselor ratios and student mental health decrease, repercussions are felt by students as it relates to their ability or willingness to seek care.

The latest Student Voice Survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse and presented by Kaplan, indicates that one year into the pandemic:

• 65% of university students report having fair or poor mental health.
• 63% of those students rate their college’s response to student mental health and wellness services at a C or lower, compared to 43% of all students.
• 47% say they could have used more support from their college for psychiatric disorders.
• Only 15% of respondents engaged in college-offered counseling.

In short, more college students are living with mental health disorders but aren’t getting the professional help they need. While there are many reasons for this, the stigma of mental health problems is among the top barriers to help-seeking, according to the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.

What is the stigma of seeking care?

How is “stigma” defined? It generally refers to the public stigma of having a mental illness. According to The Psychologist, “Public stigma is society’s rejection of a person due to certain behaviors or physical appearances that are deemed unacceptable, dangerous, or frightening.”

The perceived stigma attached to having a mental illness is not the only type of stigma that inhibits the decision to seek therapy. There’s also a felt public stigma associated with seeking professional services, separate from the public stigma associated with mental illness. With this stigma, what one suffers from is less important than the simple behavior of seeking psychological help, whether that’s for a chronic, diagnosable mental disorder or for processing a tragic event, such as the death of a loved one. Simply seeking professional psychological help has made some feel embarrassed or ashamed.

Psychology experts Dr. David Vogel and Dr. Nathaniel Wade explain that mental health stigma isn’t only what others think. They said that for many people, a separate process exists for individual self-stigma. This can be specifically associated with seeking help. Particularly in the case of the self-stigma associated with a mental illness, an external source applies the label of mental illness, and then the person decides whether or not to accept it.

In comparison, Vogel and Wade said that the often voluntary act of seeking therapy may result in an internally applied label. This can happen when the symptoms of mental illness are not perceived by the individual to be extreme enough to merit counseling:

“In this case, we argue that the role of self-stigma in the decision to seek help might be even more pronounced because it is difficult for many to both acknowledge the need for professional help and not feel a sense of failure or loss as our society portrays needing help as a weakness.”

These nuances of the public- and self-stigmas are important, as they allow mental health professionals to effectively address the stigma of mental illness in a focused manner.

What are help-seeking stigmas for college students?

According to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll, only 30% of college students who received mental health counseling used their university services. For many students, it’s not easy to access support on campus. Seventy-two percent of students don’t even know where to go on campus to receive mental health treatment.

Red tape and restrictions routinely frustrate students and can keep them from getting help. Many colleges also have caps on the number of sessions students can attend and some charge co-pays. And, university-sponsored health plans rarely cover mental health services, limiting cost-effective options for students.

Another barrier to accessing mental health resources is the idea that students feel they may not merit help. Among those not in therapy, half of the students surveyed in The Harris Poll say it’s because they don’t think their problems are serious enough to warrant help. In the survey, 25% say the thought of reaching out for help is too overwhelming.

The full list of results from The Harris Poll highlights the complexity of the problems keeping students from getting the help they need: